Return of the Awakened
by mellra
Summary: It is a known fact that when a human loses control and becomes an Awakened Being, they only know carnage and bloodshed. There weren't any known exceptions. Until now. Awakened!Naruto, Naruto with Team Taka, Naruto/Helen.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the anime/manga/movies/etc. that I write about; otherwise I would be a millionaire NOT writing on fanfiction publishing my own ideas.

**Summary: **It is a known fact that when a human loses control and becomes an Awakened Being, they only know carnage and bloodshed. There weren't any known exceptions. Until now. Awakened!Naruto, Naruto with Team Taka, Naruto/Helen.

**Return of the Awakened**

Four figures walked across the frozen landscape. Each of them wore black cloaks that completely hid their bodies from view and wore stylized masks that covered their faces. Suddenly one of them, who wore a smooth mask that had slit eye holes and a red wave painted on the surface sneezed. "I'm freezing!" the man moaned.

Another figure, wearing a mask that had a third eye painted on the forehead, shouted out in a feminine voice, revealing the speaker to be a girl, "Oh quit your bellyaching! We're in a frozen wasteland; of course you'd be cold!"

"Hey, no need to get snippy, flat chest!" the previous speaker barked, anger evident in his voice.

"Wh-WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, YOU JERK?!" the woman shrieked, looking about ready to rip the man's head off.

Suddenly, the largest member of the group, who wore a mask that was painted half black and the other half white grabbed both of the arguing figures heads and proceeded to bonk them together, causing the two bickering teammates to go into similar crouched positions, clutching their heads in pain. "What was that for, Juugo?" the man said in a whiney voice.

The now named Juugo said in a calm voice, "You two were being too noisy, besides we're approaching enemy territory. We can't afford to lose focus now."

The two looked ready to retort when the final member, this one wearing a mask styled after a fox's face and was seemingly leading the group, said in a frustrated, yet slightly amused tone, "Juugo's right Karin, Suigetsu." The man said while turning to look at the two teammates, "Isely's not stupid; he'll probably have scouts watching the surrounding area. He's going to be readying himself and his forces for when the Organization and the other two make their moves."

The woman, Karin, crossed her arms and huffed, "We get that, Naruto. I still don't see why we have to risk our necks for this. I was perfectly fine waiting underground. It's still not too late to turn back and watch them all kill each other in the fight."

"No," Naruto said in a no-nonsense tone, "Those girls are innocent about this. Their just getting screwed over by the Organization like we did. Besides, it's too good of an opportunity to wipe out the majority of the major threats to humanity in one go."

"Besides Karin," Suigetsu said mockingly, "you wouldn't want to see your 'sisters' getting killed, now would you?"

"Oh please," Karin sighed, "You know that they'd just kill me if they saw me now. That goes for you three whenever you fight. Unless you actually don't plan on fighting all out…"

"Unlikely," Juugo muttered in his monotone voice, "we're about to go up against an army, after all. We'll have no choice but to show our full might and hope that the warriors will at least listen to what we have to say before jumping to any conclusions."

"And if it all works out," Naruto chimed in playfully, "we'll have even more allies to help us in our goals! Since you joined us all those years ago Karin, it's just been the four of us. We're all strong, but we're not invincible. Hopefully, this war will be the start of all our dreams coming to fruition."

"Yeah," Suigetsu said in a bloodthirsty tone, "Besides, there's an epic fight about to happen, and I don't plan on missing out! I can't wait to start carving people up!" he finished with a maniacal laugh which caused all of his companions to stare at him in a deadpan.

"You know," Juugo started, "it's that kind of talk that makes most humans think we're bad guys. You should try and curve those violent urges of yours before we meet up with the warriors."

"So says the pot," muttered Suigetsu.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm really getting excited!" Naruto chirped, "It's been years since I've gone all out, worried about whether or not the Organization will send their trackers after us for our heads. Now, with all the yokai going around, we can fight without restraint! By the time the Organization realizes we exist, it'll be too late. So let's get this party started!" he finished in an excited yell.

"RIGHT!" the other three shouted as they began sprinting across the frozen landscape at inhuman speeds.

**Scene Break**

Clare couldn't believe this was happening. Things had started going so well for the gathered Claymores at the start of the war against Isley of the North and his Awakened Army. Sure the group had its divisions, but once the fighting started they all started pulling together and fighting like the warriors they were meant to be. It was a close thing, but the assorted fighters were able to kill off several of the gathered Awakened Beings. Victory almost looked possible…until they heard the roar.

Rigaldo, the Silver Lion, had arrived on the battlefield. He was a cut above anything the warriors had ever faced before, and he was out for blood. It seemed as if he was going after the most likely leaders of their group; first there was Veronica, then Undie. Their formidable abilities paled in comparison to the humanoid lion-like Awakened. Jean was injured, and Clare herself tried to end the Awakened's rampage, but she was brushed aside as if she didn't even register as a threat in the lion's mind.

Then it looked as though Flora was about to be killed by the ruthless monster. 'No…it's happening again,' Clare thought as she remembered a similar instance from her childhood as her mother figure was cruelly beheaded by the winged demon while she stood helpless in fear. 'Never again…NEVER AGAIN!' the silver-eyed woman roared in her mind as she prepared to unleash even more yokai into her body, even if she was in danger of going over the limit and Awakening herself. She refused to let anyone else close to her be killed, and she was fully prepared to sacrifice her very humanity to achieve this.

Before she could though, Rigaldo had reached Flora and was about to cleave her skull in two with his retractable claws. Clare was about to intervene, when she felt a gentle hand rest on her shoulder. Before she could react, Clare felt a calming effect on her body as her yokai started to receive. Shocked, Clare stared helplessly as a burst of blood appeared out of her forehead as the claws started to pierce her. Before the blow could become a killing strike, however, the master of the Wind Cutter seemingly vanished into thin air, much to the shock of all present.

"What?" Rigaldo muttered with a furrowed brow as he tried to find the woman he came within a hair's breadth of killing.

Clare, seeing as Flora was no longer in immediate danger, turned to see who held her back and was greeted by the sight of a cloaked figure wearing a mask with a third eye painted on the forehead. "Who are you?" Clare demanded drawing the other warriors' attention as well as the surrounding Awakened, shocking them how none could even sense her.

"What are you doing here?" Clare then demanded the cloaked figure.

"Don't worry," the figure said in a woman's voice, "We're here to help."

_We?_ Was the general thought running through everyone's mind when suddenly they heard someone whistle. The gathered fighters all turned their attention to another cloaked and masked figure standing on the roof of one of the nearby abandoned houses, with Flora held bridal style in his arms! The rescued Claymore stared up at her savior in wide-eyed shock when suddenly a series of cries echoed through the battle field.

The groups' attention was brought to two of the nearby Awakened Beings and immediately noticed that in their place were two more cloaked figures standing in their place while the Awakened lay on the ground, clearly dead. "Looks like we made it just in time!" the fox masked stranger called from his place on the roof in a youthful male voice, regaining the groups' attention. He then turned his attention to the bodies of Undie and Veronica and said in a more quiet voice, "Almost in time."

Rigaldo growled, "I don't know who you are, but since you rescued the girl I'm assuming you're on their side. As such, you need to be eliminated!" With that, the Silver Lion blurred out of sight and reappeared behind the stranger and Flora with his claws positioned for a killing strike. Before any of the warriors could even call out a warning, however, the figure's form blurred and disappeared before the strike could land. _Fast! _ Was the general thought that rang across the battlefield before Helen gave a startled yelp as the stranger had suddenly appeared right beside her.

"Hey there pretty girl," the fox masked man said, causing the most expressive Claymore to gain a slightly embarrassed blush, "Would you mind watching over this one for me? That injury's not serious but it'll probably hinder her for a while." With that, the stranger focused his attention back on the lion-like Awakened and said almost cheerfully, "Now that that's out of the way, we can actually have an enjoyable smack down!"

The stranger blurred once more and suddenly appeared right in front of Rigaldo's face. Before he could blink, the former warrior suddenly found himself flying through the air as the cloaked figure landed a wicked blow to his solar plexus, causing a bit of blood to fly from his mouth as he struggled to land on his feet.

The fox masked figure silently wished he could have a portrait made to commemorate the gob-smacked faces of the assorted silver eyed witches and Awakened beings. "Wh-what was that!?" the lion man growled as he wiped the remaining blood from his mouth. "Who are you!" he then roared, shattering a few nearby windows with the force of the shout.

"Weeellll, since you asked so nicely, my name…" the figure started while reaching to his mask before pulling it and the cloak away in a flourish of motion, "…is Naruto Uzumaki!" he cried out, revealing a tan young adult with sun blond hair and crystal blue eyes. One of the most noticeable features on him was the three whisker marks he had on each of his cheeks.

The man, Naruto, was surprisingly young. He didn't look much older than 16-17 yet he held a look in his eyes that spoke of wisdom, power, and kindness. Phantom Miria at first thought that the man must have been a former warrior from the male generations, but quickly dismissed that thought as there was no one with the name 'Naruto' reported in any of the generations. That, and he lacked the trade mark silver eyes of a warrior, and he also lacked the yokai to be an Awakened.

Apparently, the Silver Lion's thoughts mirrored the Phantom's. "I don't know what you are, but it doesn't matter. I have a job to accomplish and anyone who gets in my way will share a similar fate!"

Naruto gave a pout and whined, "Aw, you're no fun! Although…" he gave a grin, "…I can tell you're strong. What rank were you anyway?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I was ranked 2nd in my generation," Rigaldo growled, wondering what this strange man was getting at.

"Oh well if that's the case, I'll fight you at a 2nd rank warrior's level," Naruto grinned cheekily before turning towards his companions and shouting, "Hey guys! I'm going to cut loose a little so can you make sure no one interferes?"

"Sure thing, just try not to hog all the fun!" one of the masked men shouted back and he pulled out an enormous, clever-like blade from the back of his cloak. "My Executioner's Blade has been itching for a chance to test its edge!"

Naruto gave a nod and turned towards the surrounding warriors. "I just want you all to know, no matter what happens I'm on your side! I hope you'll give me and my friends a chance to explain when this is all over." With that, Naruto turned back to face Rigaldo with newly slit pupils and suddenly, the surrounding air started to get heavy.

Clare gasped as she felt the weight of the stranger's yokai weigh down on her. It almost felt the same as when she fought against Riful! This was insane, there's no way an Awakened, for that was the only thing the man in front of her could be, would exist without the Organization knowing about it! For that matter, why did he not release any yokai when he first appeared and why did he seem almost human in his behavior thus far? Suddenly, Clare heard a 'tsk' sound as the disguised woman beside her suddenly stepped forward.

"That reckless idiot," she heard her huff, "He was supposed to save that for latter so no one could question the yokai signature, but noooo he just has to goof off!"

The air around them suddenly lessened in intensity and Clare realized that the woman was using her own yokai to deflect the brunt of the affects. Such yokai manipulation was rare, almost to the level of Galatea and Teresa. Before the quarter yoma could question it further, she suddenly heard a roar and turned back towards its source, only in time to see a miniature dome of yokai to form around Naruto and block him from view. This lasted for only a moment before the dome dissipated and revealed the figure standing in its center, which was vastly different from the blond boy who entered it.

At first it almost looked a bit like Rigaldo's Awakened form, but on closer inspection the head was more similar to a fox than a lion. The fur was a burnt orange, almost red in color and there were foot long, rabbit like ears on the head. Claws the size of knives was on the hands and feet, and eight meter-long tails waved lazily behind the transformed blond. Only the eyes remained their sharp blue color, with blackish markings surrounding the area and the pupil a black slit. The fox/human hybrid grinned showing a muzzle full of sharp teeth and he said in a slightly deeper voice, **"Now I'm ready to fight for real!"**

This day was really getting strange.

**AN: **So…yeah. I know I promised YFBB to update but my muse gave me a blindside attack and demanded that I write this before that. I didn't want to start another story yet, but this demanded to be written! It may be a little while between updates, but I'll hopefully have more of this and my other stories out soon, so please bear with me and as always: Read and Review!

So here are the characters and a brief bio.

Naruto Uzumaki: Fox/human Awakened form. Capable of shapeshifting into a smaller normal fox for stealth purposes and has retractable claw blades that can stretch up to 5 meters. Can alter strength based on number of tails he unleashes. Has experience hiding his presence from Claymores and can appear to be human to all but the most seasoned of warriors.

Karin Uzumaki: Former 46 of Teresa of the Faint Smile's generation. Has red hair but silver eyes, and has near perfect yokai control. Can sense any amount of yokai being used up to 10 miles away and has spot on tracking skills. Also has a healing yokai that can be transferred to others via bite. Not Awakened yet still skilled enough to now be considered a top rank Warrior.

Suigetsu Hozuki: Water like Awakened. Can alter his body into a fluid-like state to avoid damage and also increase his mass and strength to any of his limbs. Also a master of the custom made sword he carries with him that was modeled after the standard Claymore blade with some slight modifications, nicknamed the "Executioner's Blade." A deadly fighter in his own right.

Juugo: Shapeshifting Awakened. Able to alter his body at will, Juugo can adapt to literally any situation. The only problem is the more power he uses and the longer it's in use, the more violent he tends to become until he goes into a berserker rage. Normally the most level headed of the group.

P.S. A big shout-out to puffdadder, whose work has helped inspire me to write this fic in the first place! God Bless!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the anime/manga/movies/etc. that I write about; otherwise I would be a millionaire NOT writing on fanfiction publishing my own ideas.

**Chapter 2**

_(Roughly 10 years before Teresa of the Faint Smile becomes Rank 1)_

**Village of Leaves**

It was a crisp fall day in the village and the people were getting ready to celebrate the successful harvest they had that year. The children played games while watching the adults set up the food tables. Some of the younger men had gone out early that morning and were able to bring back three nicely sized boar, as well as some pheasants and rabbits. Among the young hunters was a 16 year old blond haired whiskered boy by the name of Naruto Uzumaki, and he wore a face-splitting grin as he helped carry one of the larger boar with a tall man who for all intents and purposes looked like an older Naruto without the whisker marks. This man was Minato Namikaze, one of the village's most well-known hunters and an accomplished writer as well.

The older man playfully ruffled his son's hair for their first successful hunting trip together as they placed the boar among the food pile for the evening feast. They both turned when they heard a woman calling out to them and saw a beautiful red haired woman walking up to them before embracing them both in a loving hug. The woman's name is Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother and Minato's wife. Suddenly, a group of children started gathering in a sitting area near the center of the party area and Kushina excused herself as it was decided earlier that she would be the one to tell the young ones of the village stories before the festivities began.

Naruto smiled brightly as his mother captured the children's attention, remembering when he was that young and he would always be captured by the stories he'd here about how his and several of the other children's ancestors came from the war-torn east to settle in a new land, and how the other villagers' families came to join them to produce a small but thriving settlement. The village itself did not seem overly remarkable at first glance, it had small but comfortable houses, a meeting area for village events, and all the regular necessities that a village would need. There was something, however, that separated the Village of Leaves from its neighbors…

A roar was heard near the back of the village before it was silenced by a wet 'thunk' sound. The citizens largely ignored the sound; as such things were not uncommon to hear. You see, the village had a yearly infestation of creatures called 'yoma' across the land. Around the time of the village's founding, the flesh-eating monstrosities had attacked the villagers on occasion, but most of the families that came from the east had developed methods on hunting and tracking the creatures, so they did not cause as many problems as they did for other villages. In fact, some local villages had hired the hunters from the Village of Leaves on occasion to deal with their own yoma problems. The hunters of the village had learned the methods of their ancestors, and were able to hunt the monsters down with little difficulty, even if the yoma took human form.

Word of the village had spread throughout the local area, and the village had started making a steady income on yoma slaying, even if it didn't occur too often. They were in especially high demand because the only other way for normal humans to combat the flesh eaters was to hire a silver-eyed witch from that mysterious organization located farther away from the village. Humans in general didn't trust the 'Claymores', because not only did they have the blood of yoma flowing through their veins, they also were incredibly expensive to hire, while a hunting party from the Village of Leaves barely cost a third of what a Claymore cost.

The only problem was that this led to more yoma attacking the village, but since they couldn't use their normal tactics of hiding among the populace they were all killed fairly quickly, as evidence by the one the guard just killed. Naruto just shrugged it off and went to meet with his two closest friends: Suigetsu Hozuki and Juugo Kurosaki (try telling me that Juugo doesn't look like he could be related to Ichigo, I dare you!) Suigetsu is a young albino and has purple eyes with silvery hair, as well as pointed teeth that stick out a bit when he smiles. Juugo is a very tall young man with spiky orange hair with matching eyes and a strong yet kind face. The three boys had been close friends for as long as they could remember, and had formed near-unbreakable bonds.

"So how was the hunt?" Suigetsu said playfully, flashing Naruto a sharp smile.

"It was awesome!" Naruto exclaimed before giving the albino a playful smirk and saying, "Why, wishing you could test your blades?"

Suigetsu's grin turned predatory and he said, "Na man, I don't want to waste my babies on weak-ass pigs, I wanna use them to tear into some bigger game!" You see, Suigetsu's family owned the town's smithy and was quite…_passionate _about the work they did. It was his dream to become one of the world's greatest yoma slayer and spread the name of his blades all across the land.

Juugo sighed at his friends' antics. The large boy worked on a farm with his family and was a gentle soul, often seen interacting with the animals and enjoying nature. It was sometimes a wonder how he could be friends with two hotheads like Suigetsu and Naruto, but they all seemed to balance each other out. The group was about to walk over to one of the activities set up for the older members when a red comet came shooting out and grabbing Naruto in a flying tackle.

"Naruto! You're back!" squealed Naruto's ten year old cousin Karin, who looked a lot like Kushina except she had pinkish eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses on her face. Naruto smiled fondly at her cousin and ruffled up her hair, causing her to both giggle and pout almost simultaneously. "Hey Karin, how's my favorite cousin doing?"

"I'm you're only cousin, silly!" Karin stated before turning to the two other boys and saying, "Hey Juugo," then turning to Suigetsu her face took on a sour expression and she said in a flat tone, "Suigetsu."

"Oi, what's with the sour face, half-pint?" Suigetsu smirked while giving the girl a noogie on the head before she slapped his hand away and gave him a glare. For some reason, Karin never really liked Suigetsu, saying he is an "arrogant pig" and a "big dumby with a head full of stupid," and the swords enthusiast would in turn take every opportunity to tease the younger child.

"So Karin, you want to join us in some of the games?" Naruto asked to which the redhead gave an enthusiastic nod. Before the group could walk ten feet, however, there came a thunderous noise. It took the villagers a second to realize it was the warning horn, which was only blown when the village was in legitimate danger. This was concerning because the guards were well trained and could handle most threats easily, so if the warning horn is used you know serious trouble was brewing.

Naruto quickly pulled out the long knives that were sheathed in the back of his belt (think Legolas' blades form Lord of the Rings) and shouted out, "Juugo! Get Karin to the shelter! Suigetsu, you're with me!" The two boys gave affirmative nods before Juugo scooped Karin up onto his broad shoulders and carried the protesting girl away while Suigetsu took out the broadsword he wore on his back and followed Naruto to where the village's warriors were gathering. Spotting the familiar blond and red heads in the crowd, Naruto went over to his parents while Suiegetsu went to find his and asked in a serious tone, "What's going on?"

Minato, with his face in a grim look, turned to his son and said, "It's not looking good. The spotters noticed a literal horde of yoma making a beeline straight for the village."

Naruto was stunned, it wasn't unusual for yoma to hunt in small packs to take down tougher prey, but large groups of yoma were practically unheard of. The only time yoma became organized were when they were led by…oh no.

"Yes, there looks to be an Awakened Being leading them," Kushina answered her son's look of shocked realization, her face nearly a mirror of her husbands. While the knowledge of Awakened Beings wasn't common knowledge outside of the Organization, when you are in a village that has hunted yoma in the past you tend to learn things. Awakened Beings were Claymores who went past their limits and became worse than the monsters they hunted, and if this one was leading a horde of yoma to their doorsteps it must mean that this particular Awakened was both really strong and really smart.

This was a problem for the villagers, because while fighting Awakened Beings wasn't unheard of, it was highly discouraged unless there was plenty of preparation and time before the fight itself, something they did not currently have. That and an army of flesh-eating monsters could only mean suicide, no matter how talented the humans were that fought them. The best they could do was to stall them. Minato and Kushina gained resolute looks as they turned to their son. "Naruto," Minato began, "you need to take everyone who can't fight and go to the nearest village. Once the battle is done, we'll come get you."

Naruto didn't need to be psychic to know that what his father really meant was that they'd hold off the yoma horde for as long as possible for them to escape, but there was a strong chance they wouldn't survive. The young blond gained teary eyes and he asked weakly, "…why?"

It was Kushina who answered as she gave her son a sad smile and said, "Because it's our duty as warriors to ensure the well-being of our village and…" with this both of his parents placed comforting hands on Naruto's trembling shoulders while Minato finished his wife's sentence, "…it's also our duty as parents to trust in our children."

Naruto didn't say anything as he embraced both his parents in a large hug and then ran off to gather Suigetsu and Juugo to lead the children, elderly, and anyone who couldn't fight out into the wilderness away from the village and hopefully from certain doom. Kushina watched the retreating sight of her son and whispered with tears dripping down her cheeks, "…be safe." "Don't worry," Minato said comfortingly to his wife as he readied his three-bladed spear (Benitora's from Samurai Deeper Kyo) and continued, "Nobody knows these woods like those three and they're three of our most promising fighters. Besides," he then turned and gave Kushina a cheeky grin, "he's got your stubborn personality, so I'm sure he'll be fine."

Kushina laughed lightly at that and playfully punched her husband's arm before readying her weapon, which is a short scythe with a long chain and weight attached to the end, which is a keepsake from their ancestors from the East. "He's also got your skills, and that alone will be enough to make any of these yoma pussies crap themselves," Kushina's look then took on a bloodthirsty appearance as she finished, "I wonder how many we'll be able to take down? Let's find out!" she exclaimed as she ran out of the village's gates with a majority of the fighters in the village while the rest readied their arrows for a long and bloody fight.

**Scene Break (Hours later)**

The small group marched in solemn silence as they treaded through the woods. After going to the shelter, Naruto explained the situation as best he could before organizing all those who couldn't fight and have them leave quietly out of the village's secret exit with him in the front, Suigetsu in the middle, and Juugo in the back clutching his enormous broad-ax. Some of the children had cried and protested at first about leaving their homes and families but after a few stern words from the elders in the group they all continued on while trying to keep quiet. Suddenly, Naruto help up a fist to cause the procession to stop mid-step. The whiskered warrior stood still as he tried to sense any presence that he felt earlier. Suddenly, a massive pike shot out of the woods and nearly impaled him through the stomach! It was due to foxlike reflexes and by diverting the path of the pike slightly with his knives that Naruto was able to get away with not even a scratch.

He heard a scream that he guessed was from Karin as a large, hulking monstrosity came lumbering out of the path ahead. The being was a giant armored humanoid that had rods similar to the pike that was fired protruding from the back of his head and elbows as well as a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. The monster chuckled in a low, slow sounding voice and said, **"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Some pigs trying to escape the slaughter? That won't do at all, will it? Riful wants me to make sure nobody from that village escapes and that's what I'm gonna do!" **he mocked as he began to walk forward in a deliberate gait.

'_Damn! There were _two _Awakened Beings!' _Naruto thought in a panic before taking a deep breath to calm himself, _'Okay, think Naruto, I can't feel any other presence so he seems to be by himself but the way he carries himself I can tell he's got experience in combat. That and the feeling of bloodlust is enough to tell me that this guy's tough. I'm willing to bet that he can fire those rods out from earlier and they seem fast while he himself looks rather slow, so there's a chance that we could outrun him but he'd pick us off one by one with those projectiles. The only hope we have is to have the three fighters in the group stall him while the others make it to the next town and get help. Sorry mom, dad, but it looks like I'll be joining you sooner than expected.'_

"Juugo, Suigetsu," Naruto said in a serious tone, "Let's go. As soon as the fight starts, the elderly need to lead the group the rest of the way." The two boys gave affirmative nods as they readied their weapons. Ignoring Karin's protests to allow her to stay with her cousin, the group started moving around the path away from the soon to be battlefield and the monster looked on amused.

"**So you think you can stall me enough to let the other meat-bags escape? How funny! True it's all you can do but honestly you might as well come quietly, it'll hurt slightly less!" **the beast laughed but as soon as he said that Naruto appeared in front of his giant face with his blades crossed in front of him. **'Fast!' **was all Dauf had time to think before Naruto's blades cut into the bridge of his nose, leaving a long horizontal scar across his face. **"AAAARRRGH!" **Dauf screamed as he clutched the bleeding wound. Before he could recover, Suigetsu used his pain and confusion to slip around to his sides and slashed the Awakened's ribs, causing him to give another bellow of pain. Juugo then came roaring forward while swinging his ax but before he got close, Dauf shot a rod from his wrist at the tall boy, causing him to bring his ax forward early, cleaving the rod in two and halting his assault.

The Awakened looked on in pain, rage, and amazement. **"How could you move so fast?!" **he demanded, **"And how were your blades able to cut me!? Not even a claymore can do this much damage!" **

"Simple," the reply came from Suigetsu, "My family has been in the blacksmithing business for generations, and we've learned how to make the blades as sharp as possible so they can actually cut through regular iron! It just comes with learning the best ways to fight yoma's after all! As for speed, well we've all been taught how to use our speed to our advantage when fighting yoma, though Naruto here's always been freakishly faster than all of us," he finished with a pointed grin.

"**Annoying bugs! Die!" **Dauf roared as he fired multiple rods from his mouth, causing the three humans to go on the defensive, dodging this way and that in order to not get hit. Naruto was able to spot one of the slower rods and actually jumped up onto it and ran across it in order to gain momentum to launch himself at Dauf's surprised face. Before he could impale the giant through the eyes with his blades though, two green, streamer-like appendages came darting out of nowhere and grabbed onto his wrists, and threw him like a ragdoll into a thick oak tree about 5 meters away from where he was.

The other two warriors gave shouts of surprise before two of Dauf's rods flew out and caught both boys in the stomach at relatively low power, causing them to lose consciousness due to having the breath knocked out of them as well as having most of their ribs broken. As Naruto struggled to stay awake, despite the fact that his wrists, one leg, and most likely his back was broken, he heard a distorted female voice call out to the Awakened he was fighting. **"I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I Dauf?" **and out of the woods came a being that took the shape of a young girl whose body was made out of streamer-like tentacles and had a large, oppressive aura emitting from her.

"**I could have handled those puny worms Riful, you didn't need to interfere!" **Dauf said in a surprisingly whiny voice, like a child who was being scolded. **"Anyway, weren't you leading the charge on the village? What happened with that?"**

"**Please stop talking, idiot. If I hadn't come when I did that blond boy would have assuredly killed you. You'll need to train more if you almost let a mere human take you out. Though I guess it's to be expected. The villagers are no longer a problem, but they put up a superb fight! In fact they were able to kill all my minions and that leaves me feeling slightly cross right now," **Riful said in a frustrated sounding voice before her body seemed to ripple slightly as it came together to from a young girl with long brown hair and a white dress. 

"**Sorry," **Dauf said abashed before he shrunk down into a man with short blond hair and a face that would make a mother scream. "So what do we do with these three? And what about the villagers that escaped?"

"Don't worry about them," a smooth voice sounded through the clearing. A man wearing a long black cloak with the hood pulled up walked down the path calmly towards the two monsters and continued, "The villagers will be taken care of in due time. Though I am interested in these three," he said while gesturing to the three downed humans, "After all, it's not every day you get to see mere humans, let alone human children, take on a high level Awakened such as yourself, Dauf."

Said Awakened just growled at the man but Riful put out a hand to stop the larger being from attacking the stranger. The monster-girl gave the man a hard look and said, "We've done as you asked and have taken care of the Village of Leaves, now it is time for you to uphold your end of the bargain."

You could almost hear the man smirk as he said, "Yes, yes. The Organization will hold off on all of its hunts on you and the other Abyssal for now. Though if you cause any major issues I can't guarantee that the deal will remain intact, is that clear?"

Riful gained a frown on her face but she said, "Fair enough. Hopefully this will be the last we have to deal with the likes of you for a while. So, what do you plan on doing with these three? Unless you plan on using male warriors again I don't see what good they'll do. They'd make better meals at this point."

The man looked over all of the boys and noticed Naruto was still struggling with consciousness while trying to catch everything that the odd group was saying. The boy caught sight of hideously charred flesh under the hood and one large, staring eye, before the man turned back to his 'associates' and said, "Don't you worry about the details, however I noticed you left one awake. Riful, if you could be a dear and handle that for me?"

Naruto saw a green ribbon shooting towards his head, then blackness…

**AN: **Hey all! Hope you're all enjoying this story so far, and I plan on updating Chimera Luffy and Kid Kyubi next, though it might have to wait a bit. Junior year finals are coming up this month and I'll need to give them my full, undivided attention but I'll hopefully have more time this summer to bring you all more action packed chapters! Before anything else, I'd like to give a shout-out to some other authors on who have either taken on my story challenges or listened to ideas I had for their stories: Theriddler101 (who also happens to be my friend and roommate), soulful-ginger, Dimension Distorter, master of the unknown, and bobamon, thanks guys!

As for this chapter, I hope I was able to capture enough emotion at the beginning there cause I'm not really confident on writing emotional moments all that much. I also hope I got the characters and their personalities down without being to OOC. Next chapter I'll finish up this little flashback arc and go right back to where we left off last chapter.

If the Dauf fight seemed a little short, remember that Dauf isn't the sharpest tool in the box, added to the fact that he was confident in his own power and most likely wouldn't see humans as much of a threat. The people of the Village of Leaves blades were sharpened to a razor's edge that can cut through most things, added to their physical training that allows them to match and in some cases surpass the speeds of yomas, allows for deadly enemies. I'll explain more on the 3 boys' awakening next chapter and why they're still sane, though there are hints of it this chapter, as well as why the Organization teamed up with yoma and the Abyssal, and explain how Karin joined the group. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. In the meantime, please Read and Review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the anime/manga/movies/etc. that I write about; otherwise I would be a millionaire NOT writing on fanfiction publishing my own ideas.

**Chapter 3**

Cold. Pain. Darkness. These were the things Naruto was first aware of as he regained consciousness. He let out a groan as he felt his body and to his relief it didn't seem as though his bones were broken, though there was an odd feeling from his front. 'W-what happened?' Naruto thought blearily as he tried to remember what he was doing before he blacked out.

It all came rushing back to him. The village under siege, leading the noncombatants away, running into the Awakened Being, the fight, the second Awakened, and losing. Naruto would have jolted up by this point but his body still felt sluggish for some reason. 'Wait, I should have had at least some broken bones from that last attack. So why don't I feel any pain?' the blond thought suddenly.

Warily opening his eyes, he noticed the sun was in the noon position. How many hours or days he was unconscious was anyone's guess. Slowly, Naruto stood up and tested his limbs, which popped from lack of use. His clothes were dirty and torn up in places, yet still usable. What worried the whiskered warrior though was his seeming lack of injuries. All thoughts of that were forgotten though, as he started to notice his surroundings. "I'm back near the village! It should just be over that hill," he muttered as he began climbing said hill, despite the fact that he knew a battle had just taken place before the evacuation. All he could currently think about in his delirious state was how close home was, how close his family and safety was.

Naruto reached the peak of the hill and gasped in despair at what he saw. What was once a bustling town was now a scorched patch of earth with the burnt out husks of buildings here and there. There were also the corpses. Like the houses, they were so burnt that it was nearly impossible to tell what they once were. Some of the bodies were scattered about, others were in large groups, while others still were in pieces. While there were a large number of yoma corpses mixed in, it was clear the large majority of bodies were human. The only thing all the bodies shared was that they all seemed to be split open down the front. Naruto figured in his hazy mind that the other yoma must have gotten hungry before burning all the evidence and had their fill on the guts of the dead, both human and yoma, probably while a few of them were still alive.

The blond was about to sink to his knees in despair but some force seemed to want to push him forward. He walked until he got near the remains of what he believed to be once his home, and his world shattered. Lying next to each other a few feet away from the house were two bodies nearly side by side. They were almost identical to the other bodies around them but they had certain features that made them stick out to the boy. The one, slightly larger corpse held what looked like a spear with the blade at the end broken, though it looked like there were once three blades that formed a cross. The other, slightly smaller corpse, had burnt chains wrapped around its arm, the weapon Naruto knew to have been attached to its end was nowhere in sight. The amount of yoma bodies around them were staggering, nearly two dozen formed around the couple in a circle of death. It was clear the two had fought valiantly, being forced back towards their home before succumbing to the beasts that attacked them.

'M-Mom…D-D-Dad,' Naruto thought shakily with tears blurring his vision. So many emotions were running through the teens mind at super-sonic speeds. Grief, pain, and sadness were chief among them but the one that really stood out was _rage. _He got onto his hands and knees while his tear filled eyes were looking at, but not really seeing, his clutched, shaking hands. Nor did he feel his body shaking in a similar way or the way his front area started to give off a burning, yet pleasurable feeling to it. All Naruto could do was listen to his raging thoughts.

'Why, WHY did this happen?!' his mind screamed. Remembering what he saw before he was knocked out, the man in black talking to the two Awakened, his thoughts turned darker. 'It was all THEIR faults! They planned this whole thing! Why dammit, WHY!?'

It was at this point the whiskered boy's body started to violently spasm, as if he was going into some sort of fit. Unknown by Naruto, his eyes turned a glowing yellow before they darkened into a bloody red with the pupil becoming slit while his muscles bulged then shrank repeatedly. Veins popped up all over his body while the teeth in Naruto's mouth became wicked fangs, and his nails on his hands and feet became claw-like. Before too long, his body's reactions forced even his racked thoughts to come to a screeching halt.

"Wh**at's **g**oin**g o**n**?!" Naruto gasped out in a fluctuating pitch as he felt his body start to jerk more and more violently. His hair became even more spiked and wild looking while the veins on his face seemed to blend in with his whisker-like birthmarks, making them seem darker and more feral. The teen grasped his arms around his midsection while his head smacked into the charred earth underneath him. His lungs pulled desperately for air while his front felt like it was on fire, both burning him yet giving him chills of pleasure at the same time. It was almost like he wanted to

**WAKE UP!**

The demonic sounding voice echoed through his head and his world slowly was enclosed by darkness. Before there was only black, Naruto's last thought echoed in his mind, '…why?'

**Scene Break**

Naruto groaned as he warily opened his eyes. All around he could feel cool grass tickling his sides while what felt like a light rain pelted his face. His mind catching up with his eyes, Naruto found himself staring at a cloudy sky overhead with rain falling down at a slow yet steady pace. Turning his head side to side, the blond found he was no longer in the burnt out remains of his village, but in some wide open field with long grass swaying in the breeze and large trees surrounded the clearing.

"How'd I get here?" Naruto wondered as he slowly stood up and took in the area. "It was sunny when I blacked out and I don't recognize this place. Could all that have…?"

"…_been a dream?" _A mocking yet familiar sounding voice finished behind him. Spinning around, Naruto came face to face with…himself?

No, not quite himself. While the figure standing on the other side of the field looked a lot like Naruto, there were several key differences. The color of the other Naruto was almost of a duller shade then the actual Naruto, like he was surrounded by a mist of some sort. Then there were the eyes. The whites were a pitch black color while the retinas were a deep scarlet, the pupil being none existent (Yami Naruto). The figure had a cocky, and somewhat bloodthirsty smirk smeared across his face and his arms were folded confidently across his chest. The other Naruto's smirk widened and Naruto caught a glimpse of sharp teeth filling his mouth.

"_Hey me!" _the other Naruto called out, snapping Naruto back to attention. Even his other self's voice sounded different, like it was a shadow of what it really was. Dead and lifeless. The Other continued, _"So glad you could finally come here. Sorry there's not much to the décor, but since this is your mind I wasn't really able to spruce up the place, ya know?" _All of this was said in a mocking tone, all the while the Other never let up his smirk.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked/demanded while getting into a ready stance. Something theOther said clicked in his mind and Naruto added, "And what do you mean by my mind?!"

"_Oh, where are my manners?" _the Other said with a mock bow, _"I guess you could say I'm the manifestation of the new, better you. The you that Awakened from the yoma flesh implanted in you. And this place," _he waved his hand around the field, _"is a representation of the inside of your mind. The reason why you're here is because it's time for me to take over." _He finished with a sick grin.

Naruto stared at the manifestation in horror. There had been rumors of how Awakened Beings were formed, and there had been whispered rumors that the Organization used humans that crossed them to form new Awakened in order to send to their enemies. It was like placing a rabid dog in a room full of people, the dog would attack and kill all in the area and by the time all was said and done, the dog was put down itself. Feeling under his shirt, Naruto felt large stitches covering his torso like he was a human rag doll and flinched in pain. Now though wasn't the time to panic, Naruto thought, trying to snap out of his horrifying revelation. A loud growl formed in his throat and the awakening teen's hand grasped behind his back, luckily finding one of his long knives before he whipped it out and held it in a defensive position.

The Other looked amused at the action as he cocked his head to the side. _"Oh, so you plan to fight me? Alright," _he said while pulling out a blade from behind his back and getting into a similar stance, _"It'll be an amusing bit of exercise before I make this body mine!"_ he continued with a sadistic smirk. _"Then, when this bodies mine, I think I'll do you a favor and kill those bastards tha' did this to this to the town 'fore I get some guts to eat!" _He finished with a chilling laugh.

"Not if I can help it!" Naruto shouted out as he braced himself for the fight. They stood there for a minute in the falling rain, that seemed to be increasing in intensity as time went on, before by some unsaid signal sent the two rushing at each other in a blur of speed and steel. The two clashed in the middle of the field, their blades forming a shower of sparks that mixed with the rain. Naruto broke off the confrontation first with the Other mirroring the action perfectly.

Naruto went for an overhead slash while the Other mixed it up and slashed his blade in an upward arc. The blades once again met in a loud clang and the Other whipped his left foot that dug into Naruto's side. The whiskered blond gave a gasping cough that had blood spitting out of his mouth. Naruto swaggered but remained standing, before he sent his unoccupied fist into a punch that connected with his doppelganger's face. Unlike the original, the Other merely grinned as blood leaked out of the corner of his mouth. The two once more charged at each other in a clash of blades that went at speeds with increasing intensity. The speeds got to the point that their arms and blades were like a blur, the occasional spark shower being the only sign that the blades were actually meeting. After this continued for what felt like hours (which was more likely several minutes) the two once more broke apart in near mirror images and slid across from each other to five yards apart. They then charged at each other with near superhuman speeds and in a flash of lightning, where facing away from each other nearly the same distance apart. All was still for a few seconds when a sudden spray of blood appeared on Naruto's forehead, and a similar cut appeared on the Other's shoulder.

Much to Naruto's surprise, he heard his darker half chuckle to himself, audible even over the now pouring rain and, with a boom of thunder, the chuckle suddenly escalated into an insane cackle that raised the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck. Both turned to face each other and Naruto asked the still laughing shadow, "What's so funny?!"

The Other merely glowered as he sheathed the blade behind his back. He then cracked his neck and Naruto noticed the cut on his shoulder was healing at a rapid pace. The Other then spoke, _"Oh, I just got a little bored with this fight. Y'see, while we're nearly even at this level, I can crank it up a notch. You _**_can't." _**he finished in an animalistic growl and a red, wispy energy started to pour off his body. The energy continued to build, and the hairs on Naruto's body stood on end as if the double was releasing a static force.

Suddenly, the Other's appearance started to shift and blur while the energy continued to rise. His teeth and nails seemed to lengthen into sharp points while his hair grew wilder. The manifestation's lips became a blackish hue while a similar color appeared to shadow his red eyes and his whisker marks darkened. There was a cracking of bones as the Other's face seemed to lengthen into a muzzle as well as the now pointed ears. The legs gave another crack as they bent and twisted to resemble that of a dog's, and a red-orange fur started to cover his body. Naruto then noticed his opponent's body seemed to be getting larger as his muscles seemed to swell with an unknown amount of power. Soon, the transforming creature was towering over even the tallest tree, easily passing 100 feet in height! When the creature stopped growing, there was a rumbling noise and suddenly nine long, furry, and majestic looking tails suddenly burst forth from the thing's spine, the red energy sinking into the beast's body.

Naruto could only continue to stare in both awe and fear at the ghastly transformation that occurred to the being that once looked like him. Even while sitting, the being now towered over him like a human would to a cockroach, it's now vulpine head nearly as big as his house was. The creature looked like a fox, though in other ways it was also wolf like in appearance. The thing's torso looked human though with pectorals and shoulders that went down into human like hands that were covered in fur and had wicked long nails on the ends of the fingers. Turning its inhuman eyes downward, the nine-tailed fox spotted the only other being in the area: Naruto. The beast smiled at the boy, its razor sharp teeth now the size of one of the surrounding trees and gave a terrible, booming laugh that was even louder than the surrounding thunder.

"**_Now, do you want to surrender this body to me or do we have to do things the fun way?" _**It boomed in a horrifyingly demonic voice, similar to the one Naruto heard before he lost consciousness.

Naruto was terrified. If he wasn't paralyzed at the moment, Naruto was sure he'd wethimself with how hopelessly terrifying this all was. But, in either a moment of extreme bravery or extreme stupidity, Naruto gave a strangled war cry and rushed the beast, pulling his second dagger out as he went.

"**_Fun way it is then," _**the Other chuckled as he saw the insignificant insect charge at him. Rearing its head back, the beast gathered air and gave a deafening ROAR at the blond, the force behind the sound sent Naruto flying across the field to the edge of the trees with his ears ringing. Struggling to get up and regain his sense of balance, Naruto once more tried charging the creature. While the teen knew his situation was hopeless, he nevertheless wasn't going to go down without a fight! He'd never be able to face his fellow villagers in the afterlife if he did anything less.

The monster fox simply raised its hand and swatted Naruto away as one would a fly. The blonde's body bounced across the field, smashing into several trees, before coming to a halt nearly a mile away, broken and defeated. The large fox stalked towards him at impressive speeds, the ground trembling with each mighty step. No longer smiling, the fox growled in its terrible voice, **_"Does it become clear now? Even if that was a mere love tap, you lie there battered and broken. You've no prayer of defeating me so just submit to me. It will be far less painful and I'll take good care of your body."_**

Naruto could barely hear what was spoken to him, the blood pooling around his body along with broken bones poking through the flesh in some areas. Not even when that other Awakened blindsided him had he felt this much pain! A large shadow crossed his face as the titanic fox shadowed his body. 'This is it, huh?' Naruto thought with a strange feeling of acceptance. 'Forced to become a raging beast that'll terrorize humanity until it's put down. Never thought I'd go this way. My only regret…is that I couldn't save anyone. Hell, I can't even avenge them. Mom, Dad, I'm sorry,' Naruto thought as he slowly started to close his now heavy eyes. The rain feeling cool against his battered flesh, though on the inside Naruto thought it felt much colder.

…

…

_"…it's also our duty as parents to trust in our children."_

Naruto's eye's twitched as he remembered his father's last words to him.

"_Remember Naruto, your parent's love you no matter what."_

Now a previously broken finger dug into the ground as one of his mom's favorite sayings repeated in his mind.

"_You'll look after the others if anything happens, won't you Naruto?"_

The sun broke through the rain.

Naruto's eyes snapped open at that, remembering the question both his parent's asked him during his last birthday when he officially became a "man." It was his duty now to protect everyone! Images of his parents, Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo, and other members of the village flashed through his mind.

'I can't give up yet! I have to be strong for my family!' "For EVERYONE!" Naruto shouted out the last part as he leapt up, catching the gigantic claw that was just about to impale him. The look on the fox's face was one of complete surprise and maybe just a hint of fear. The blonde's injuries just seemed to melt away as he now stood whole and healthy once more. 'That's right. It's my mind so it's my rules,' Naruto thought in understanding.

Before, when he first saw the Other, he looked like him so he assumed they'd be evenly matched, and so they were. Then, when the Other transformed, he looked unbeatable and so he was. Now though, with Naruto's mind focused on what was important, the monster fox might as well have been a small rabbit trying to escape its cage. With a heave, Naruto sent the fox sprawling onto its back, causing a massive earthquake to shake the land. The demon quickly scrambled to his feet with a roar, though to Naruto now that roar sounded like the mewing of a kitten.

"_**I'LL SHOW YOU!" **_the beast roared as the red energy that previously surrounded him returned and started to gather by his now raised mouth, the tails pointing towards the mouth as well to form a focus point. The energy formed into a ball that started as even larger than the fox until it condensed into a much smaller sphere. The monster then shoved the ball into its mouth and its cheeks bulged with the built up energy. It then looked at Naruto with hatred blazing in its crimson eyes before it unleashed the attack in a large explosion!

The ball headed towards Naruto at blistering speeds but Naruto simply held fast before raising his hands in a defensive position and catching the ball before it could make full contact. The force behind the energy ball was enough to cause Naruto's legs to sink into the ground but he held firm. The manifestation looked utterly gob smacked as his most powerful attack was stopped so simply, against a simple _human _as well! With a large grunt, Naruto tossed the ball back at the fox who tried to dodge but unlike Naruto was unsuccessful in his attempts. The resulting explosion was enormous! All of the surrounding trees bent back from the force while the closest ones were disintegrated. Others were knocked down or set aflame due to their close proximity.

When the resulting smoke cleared, the fox was shown to now be the one on its back with scorch marks covering most of his body and patches of fur were missing. Bloody cuts and bruises were everywhere and one of the monster's eyes where forced shut from the damage. Naruto fearlessly walked up to the downed beast and jumped onto its arm where he proceeded to walk to where the head was. Looking down blearily, the defeated monster simply looked at the approaching blond and asked in a much quieter, raspy voice, _**"…how?"**_

Naruto merely shook his head and, with a snap of his fingers, chains erupted from the ground and pinned the fox firmly in place. Continuing his trek, Naruto stood right in front of the fox's black nose and looked it right in the eye. With unwavering eyes, Naruto spoke, "I've got too many things to do and too many precious people to protect for someone like you to stop me. That's why I won."

The beast seemed to struggle to speak as it ask, _**"Why would you want to protect these pathetic meat bags anyway? You're so much more than them now…surely you can see that! Even if you want to protect them, they'll still see you as a monster for what you are now. You know there is no going back, right? Besides, anyone who would have accepted you is dead now, so what's the point?!"**_

Naruto kept his cool gaze on the struggling fox before answering, "I want to protect them because it's the right thing to do. While I may no longer be considered human, I was born human and have lived as a human all my life. If I can make sure that others can have that experience, I'll gladly carry this burden. As for those who've died, I still carry their wills and their memories. All of this is precious to me, and my parent's always taught me that in order to be strong, you must protect what's precious to you."

The Other gave a weak chuckle as the red energy from earlier started to leak off his body and go into Naruto. _**"Heh, well-spoken Naruto. While losing sucks, I guess it ain't so bad that it was to a guy like you. Hope you make good on that resolve of yours, otherwise I'll come back and kick your ass!" **_With that, the other gave a laugh as the rest of his body was converted into red energy and was absorbed into Naruto. The whiskered blond smiled at that and looked at his clenched fist, feeling the near limitless power now coursing through his body.

"Don't worry," Naruto said out loud as he saw his surroundings once more start to fade away, "I will."

**Scene Break**

Naruto awoke to find himself once more in his burnt out town. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here," he grumbled as he picked himself up. One of the first things he noticed, much to his embarrassment, was that he was now as naked as the day he was born. Luckily, it looked like no one was around for now.

At first, Naruto briefly wondered if the whole thing had been a dream, but then he felt the burning, powerful energy now coursing through him and his now unmarked front, Naruto banished those thoughts. Looking at his hand once more, Naruto figured he'd try something. With a push of concentration, Naruto's hand suddenly transformed into that of his beastly counterparts. After looking at his paw-like hand for a few seconds, Naruto transformed it back to normal. Looks like he could Awaken to his fox form now. While he wanted to test his new abilities, he first looked back to the bodies of his parents, a twinge of sadness going through his entire being before he pushed back such thoughts else they consume him. There would be time to grieve later. First, he had to give a proper burial to the dead. Then, he'd look for survivors of the village and hope he'd run into Suigetsu and Juugo again. Hopefully, they didn't get treated in a similar manner.

But first thing, he mentally noted as a breeze blew by, was that he needed some clothes. Odd that what would normally cause him to shiver just was a minor annoyance now. Oh well, he'd have plenty of time to ponder it later. Right now, he had more important things to do as he went towards the wreckage of his house, hoping some clothes survived.

**AN: **Hey all! Hope you liked this latest chapter! Now the fight here was inspired by Naruto vs. Yami Naruto and Naruto vs. Kurama with some key differences. The next chapter involves Naruto testing his new powers, finding the other three members of his team, and setting off to train. The following chapter will move back to the present. There are a few secrets of Naruto's new abilities that will be revealed in time, as well as why the whole mindscape battle happened in the first place, seeing as none of the other Claymores seem to have experienced something similar. Now I have a little announcement to make. During the month of August, I'll be taking a small break from my main stories to write several more of my challenge chapters. Now before you freak out, I want you all to know I have every intentions of continuing by the end of August/early September, around when school starts back up. Until next time, please **Read**, **Review**, and **Enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Both Claymore and Naruto have ended. I own neither of them.

**Chapter 4**

Naruto jumped over a falling log with ease as he navigated the woods near where his village once stood. Everything, every movement, was easier now. Performing a massive burial for the dead and running for nearly two hours and he wasn't even winded! And his senses, they nearly overwhelmed him! His eyes were so sharp that he could make out every feather of a hawk that flew miles above his head, his nose so sharp he could smell a family of deer on the other side of the woods, and his ears were so sensitive that he heard every blade of grass crinkle under his feet as he ran.

'Is this what it feels like to be Awakened?' Naruto mused as his speed increased as time moved on. If that was the case, he almost didn't blame the Claymores for losing themselves in the feeling. That didn't mean he wasn't going to shred any other Awakened he found so they'd no longer hurt another human. Just then, his ears heard a moan, mainly human but not quite, a few miles from his position the same moment his nose picked up a familiar scent; one of iron and coal. 'Suigetsu!' Naruto thought frantically as he sped off in the direction his friend was.

As he came closer to the area where his senses led, Naruto spotted a gathering red light with a tense feeling in the air that caused the hair on the back of his neck to rise. Recognizing the feeling, Naruto could only gasp, "Oh no…" before the energy reached its peak and blew off in different directions. Cautiously, Naruto neared the center of where the energy gathered. Once there, he saw a small crater burnt into the earth and in it laid the naked form of his white haired friend.

"Suigetsu…?" Naruto called cautiously as he neared the unmoving form. If he was right, the other boy had just Awakened if that feeling was to be believed. Not knowing if Suigetsu remained himself like he did, the blonde haired teen remained on edge, ready to summon forth his new, formidable power at a moment's notice.

With a groan, Suigetsu got up from his lying position. While looking the same from when they last saw each other, Naruto could tell something was definitely different about the young sword enthusiast. He just reeked of a powerful aura, similar to Naruto's. Wiping a stray strand of white hair from his face, Suigetsu's purple eyes focused on the blue eyes of Naruto. "N-Naruto…?" He muttered as he stumbled forward in a disoriented state.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he stepped closer to him.

Rubbing his head as if to get rid of a hangover, Suigetsu said, "I…think so? Last thing I remember was that I was fighting this weird version of me. It started to annoy me so I kicked its ass."

Despite the situation, Naruto couldn't help but sweat-drop. 'He makes it sound like it was easy!' the blond thought incredulously. He then noticed Suigetsu swaying dangerously and he went forward to prevent the other teen from falling. When Suigetsu did fall on top of Naruto, however, he burst into water, soaking the blond. "WHA-?!" Naruto shouted out, wondering what in the hell just happened.

"Bwahahaha! Oh man, you should see the look on your face!" Suigetsu laughed as his head formed out of one of the newly made puddles on the ground. Seeing Naruto's shocked/questioning look, Suigetsu elaborated, "So yeah, this was what that other version of me kept doing while we fought. It was annoying as hell to get in a good hit and I just kept thinking 'I really wanna hit this guy!' and suddenly bam! I was actually able to cleave the bastard in two! He then disappeared into me and I suddenly knew I could so all the things he could. Pretty neat, huh? …Uh, Naruto?" (1)

Naruto was on his hands and knees on the ground with a cloud of depression over his head while Suigetsu's body reformed. 'I had to go through a life or death struggle against an invincible foe, needing a life altering revelation to beat him, and Suigetsu is able to beat his doppelganger just by wanting to hit him?! Where's the fairness in that?!' the fox Awakened thought while crying a river of anime tears. (2)

"Hey man…you okay?" Suigetsu asked hesitantly.

Whipping his eyes, Naruto groaned out, "Yeah just…feeling a little ripped off right about now. Anyway…" At this Naruto's face grew serious as he faced his friend and asked, "Did you see the town?"

A forlorn expression formed on the white haired teen's face. "…Yeah," he muttered after a long pause. "Hard to believe everyone…Do you think we're all that's left?" Suigetsu asked.

Naruto shook his head and stated, "No, I refuse to believe that. We bought plenty of time for the group we were leading to get to safety, and I'm willing to bet what happened to us happened to Juugo as well. We need to find him and, if he's himself as well, bring him with us to regroup with the other survivors. We can plan on what our next course can be after that."

Suigetsu nodded and said, "You're the boss. What should we do if Juugo isn't like us?"

Naruto grimaced and muttered, "Let's worry about that when the time comes. Come on, we should hurry." Suigetsu started to follow before Naruto brought them to a halt, reaching into a bag he had strapped to his back. "But before that, we should really get you some cloths. While we're friends, there are some things I'm better off not knowing about you."

Suigetsu blushed as he accepted the clothes offered. "…It's cold out here!" he protested weakly as he went behind a bush to get dressed.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Naruto shot out while rolling his eyes.

**Time Skip**

Both Naruto and Suigetsu ran through the woods at inhuman speeds. Naruto had to pull his speed back a bit because, while Suigetsu was faster after his Awakening, Naruto's speed still topped his by a good margin. It had been nearly half an hour since they started running and both boys were getting worried about their missing friend. It worried Naruto that his other friend wouldn't be able to win his internal battle due to the fact that while he was strong, Juugo was a pacifist by nature and tried avoiding conflict. This would make him susceptible to his dark doppelganger's influence.

They both suddenly felt a familiar burst of energy coming from nearby. Looking at each other and nodding, the two Awakened rushed off in the direction of the burst. When they got there, they found Juugo standing in the middle of several toppled trees. Unlike the other two, however, Juugo's form wasn't completely human. The right half of his body was covered in dark flesh, and his right eye had a yellow iris with black sclera. Also, his normally calm face was twisted into a psychotic grin and he seemed to be mumbling to himself. Spotting Suigetsu and Naruto nearby, he gave a mad cackle and roared out, "**OH HELL YEAH! Finally some bitches to kill!" **

With that, he lunged at the other two while his right arm twisted and warped, forming into a hammer-like shape. Despite their shock at Juugo's attitude, both Naruto and Suigetsu had enough sense to dodge the berserker attack. Juugo's from smashed into the tree that they were standing near, rendering it to splinters. "Whoa! Hey, what's the big idea Juugo?!" Suigetsu shouted at the orange haired boy, who was just pulling himself out of the mess he created.

Giving a sick grin, Juugo turned his attention to the sword enthusiast and, with the flick of his wrist, stretched out his arm like it was made of rubber. The elastic appendage caught Suigetsu in the chest, who only had a moment to look surprised before his body once again burst into water, clothes and all. Juugo looked confused for a moment before he gave a shrug of his misshapen shoulders and set his sights on Naruto. Jumping into a nearby tree, Naruto shouted down to his friend, "Juugo stop! This isn't like you!"

The transforming boy just laughed and said, **"Ha! That pansy Juugo's a little busy right now! Though I gotta admit, he's putting up more of a fight than I figured his little bitch ass was capable of! In the meantime though, I'm gonna have fun splattering you like I did that white haired bastard!" ** With that, the berserker launched himself at Naruto, the dark skin spreading over to his other arm which warped into an ax shape.

Acting on instinct, Naruto pushed his yokai into his arms. Both limbs grew orange fur while his nails turned into claws. Brining his transformed arms up, the claws caught the blade of the ax and prevented it from cleaving Naruto in half. The force of the blow, however, caused Naruto's legs to sink into the ground as a small shockwave swept through the impact site. With a grunt, Naruto removed his left hand while his right held the ax at bay. Pointing it at Juugo's side, the claws on the hand suddenly extended several feet in length, piercing the berserker's side like butter. Juugo howled in pain as he backed off, blood staining the side of his body. This only lasted for a moment or two, as the dark flesh suddenly covered the wounds.

Glaring at the blond, Juugo seethed, **"You're gonna pay for that, piss head!"**

In the desperate hope to reach his friend, Naruto cried out, "Come on Juugo, fight it! I know you can do it man, this isn't who you are!"

Juugo just cackled, **"Ha! If you think a few corny lines are gonna save you, you've got another thing – Huh?!"** He was cut off as a sphere of water suddenly formed around his head.

Naruto gave a smirk, showing his canines had lengthened into fangs, "Nah, I was just distracting you."

Suigetsu's torso formed out of the sphere with a grin and he taunted, "Time to go nighty night crazy guy~!"

Juugo thrashed around, trying to get rid of the water that was choking off his air supply. But after several minutes, his mismatched eyes rolled back into his head as he fell unconscious. Suigetsu waited a few more moments to make sure the carrot top wasn't playing possum before removing the water from his head, reforming his own body in the process. Slowly, the dark flesh receded from Juugo until he looked like he normally did, though the dark aura around him remained.

"Whew! Man that was a close one! So…what now?" Suigetsu grunted as he sat by Juugo's prone form.

Shifting his arms back to normal and wiping the blood off on the grass, Naruto gained a thinking pose. "Well…we should bind him then wait until he wakes up. If he's completely lost himself….then we might have to 'take care of him.'" Naruto finished with a grimace. While he would never intentionally harm his friends, Naruto knew that if Juugo had completely lost his human half, then there would be no choice in the matter. Besides, knowing Juugo he'd prefer that to killing innocent people. Hell, he had a low tolerance for killing animals!

Giving a solemn nod, Suigetsu got up and, with Naruto's help, dragged the larger boy to a thick tree where they tied him up using rope that Naruto had in his bag. They waited for a couple hours before Juugo started to show signs of waking up. Blinking open his now normal eyes, Juugo stared at his two friends who were staring at him expectantly. "Naruto…? Suigetsu…? What happened?" he asked weakly.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Naruto asked, cautious in case this was a trick.

Scrunching up his face, Juugo thought for a moment. "I remember…fighting myself?...Except this version of me was…dark, twisted. We were on this field, and he started winning. Then…there was a flood, and the world started to go dark. The dark me said that he'd retreat for now, but because I didn't outright beat him; using his powers would come at a price the more I'd use them. That brings us to now. So, what's going on?" he asked.

The other teens exchanged a glance before they explained what had happened ever since the invasion. By the end of it, Juugo looked troubled. "I…can't believe everyone's gone." He whispered. The white and blond haired boys could only nod sadly, knowing all too well what Juugo was feeling. "What…what happens now?"

Leaning down, Naruto cut Juugo's ropes and handed him some clothes, which he took gratefully. Once Juugo was finished getting dressed, Naruto sat on a nearby stump while the other two looked at him expectantly. This had been the case since they were children, if ever a problem arose, Naruto was the one the other two would look at for leadership, since the blond was a natural born leader. Whether it was a trait inherited from his father, who was also a great leader in the hunts, or if it was just the whiskered boy's natural charisma, no one could tell. Thinking on it for several minutes, Naruto finally came to a decision.

"I think," he began, "that we should stay low for now. Originally I thought we should regroup with the other survivors, but honestly that might not be the best course of action right now. We're still getting used to our powers, and Juugo can't fully use his yet," seeing the larger boy's downtrodden expression, Naruto waved off his concerns. "It isn't your fault, Juugo. None of us asked for this. That's another reason we should lay low too. We know the Organization was working with the yoma, at least to some degree, to wipe out our village. They then turned us into these…things. I want to know why and," at this his expression turned dark, "make sure they never do this to anyone else again. We'll keep a lookout for survivors from the village and, if we find any, keep an eye out on them. No doubt the Organization might go after them too. We can do this much easier if we keep ourselves hidden. With luck they'll think we killed each other or something."

Nodding at the blonde's logic, the trio got up and started heading out into the woods, mixing in with the trees. None of them were aware of the figure that was watching them from far off on a cliff overlooking the forest.

Rubel smirked as he pushed his sunglasses up his nose. "Well now," he said in an amused voice, "It would appear Dae's latest projects are quite interesting indeed. I can't help but wonder, is it because of their ancestry? I'm sure the Organization would love to hear of this development. Of course…where would the fun in that be? Perhaps I'll let them go about their plans for now. Who knows, it might just work in my favor." With that he left the cliff, wondering on what changes these three would bring to the future.

**Time Skip (10 Years Later)**

Karin Uzumaki, otherwise known as warrior number 46, gasped in pain as she attempted to block the blow meant to take her head off by the powerful Awakened Being. At 20 years old, Karin looked to be around 16, the age she had the yoma flesh implanted in her. Her red eyes had turned sliver from the process but her hair, unlike the other Claymores, remained its vibrant shade of red. She was what is known as an incomplete hybrid, one that retained parts of her human side through the process in becoming a warrior. This didn't discourage the girl, however. In fact, she used it as motivation to train her skills until she slowly started to rise through the ranks. While not as powerful as other Claymores, Karin made up for it in her sensing abilities as well as her ability to alter her own yokai.

The result is that she could now sense not only all yoma and warriors, but also humans within a five mile radius from her location. She also had an ability unique among Claymores. By manipulating her own yokai, she is able to send her considerable healing powers to others and can help them recover from most injuries. The downside it that the best way to administer this ability was for the person being healed was to bite her in order to have better access to her yokai. While not at the same level as Teresa of the Faint Smile, the current number one, Karin was confident that her abilities in manipulating yokai were top notch.

It was due to this that she'd been sent on this current expedition to hunt several Awakened with three other warriors of higher rank: number 25, 19, and 13 to be exact. However, the Awakened they were fighting were very powerful and also very smart. While able to take down four of the Awakened, all the rest of the warriors had perished in the resulting battle, leaving her to face the leader alone. She gave another cry as a particularly strong blow let her claymore sword go flying from her grasp.

Her opponent, a mantis like awakened gave a warped laugh, **"Ha-hah! Is this the best the current generation of warriors has to offer? I'm not impressed," **she sneered as she raised her two scythe like arms to deal the killing blow.

'This can't be it!' Karin thought desperately as she tried to look for an escape. It was no use, however, as she was currently boxed in by several of the huge boulders that littered the terrain. The only way out was through the Awakened Being, and into her waiting claws. This is how the Awakened were able to pick the other members of her group off, using the difficult landscape to their advantage. As the blades drew nearer, Karin couldn't help but shut her eyes as she prepared for her end.

**SHUNK!**

Hearing the sound of pierced flesh, Karin waited for the pain to hit. Feeling nothing, she thought, 'Why doesn't anything hurt? Oh my God…WHAT IF I'M DEAD ALREADY?!' she cried anime tears at this thought. After a few seconds of this, she gathered her courage a cracked open a silver eye, which soon widened in shock. Spearing the Awakened through the torso was five, orange colored claws that were extended to extraordinary lengths. The impaled Voracious Eater gagged on its own blood, trying desperately to get free of the claws. Before it could move, however, a bullet of water suddenly shot out from where the claws originated from and caught the Awakened right in the forehead, drilling a neat little hole right through its brain. The fallen warrior twitched three times, and then slumped over dead.

Gasping and trying to calm her racing heart, Karin shakily turned to look at the source of the being that saved her. What she saw was three cloaked figures, their faces hidden by the hoods, and the claws came from the sleeve of the middle figure which quickly retracted. Finding her voice, Karin hesitantly asked, "Wh-who are you?"

The figure to the right of the middle figure gave a mocking laugh and asked in a familiar voice, "Heh heh, what's the matter squirt, don't yah recognize us?"

The figure to the left, who was the tallest, reached over and slapped the talker upside the back of the head, causing him to yelp in shock. Another familiar, deep sounding voice reprimanded the other hooded figure who was now rubbing his head. He said, "Be nice, she just went through a harrowing experience, hasn't seen us in ten years, and we're wearing hoods."

"Doesn't mean yah had to hit me," the smaller figure grumbled while the middle one just seemed to be shaking their head at the other two's antics.

"J-Juugo? Stupid Suigetsu?" Karin asked hesitantly, not willing to believe that two boys from her village, who were long thought dead, were here now.

Ignoring Suigetsu's sputtering, Juugo and the white haired boy lowered their hoods to show faces that haven't changed once in ten years. Amazed, Karin could only watch as the middle figure lowered his hood, showing a familiar mess of blond hair with clear blue eyes and whisker marked cheeks. "N-N-Naruto…" Karin trailed off with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Said boy broke into a wide grin at seeing his grown up cousin for the first time in a decade and said, "Hey Karin, I've missed you. You really grew up, huh?"

All other forms of conversation failed as Karin barreled into her older cousin in a tackling hug. With a woof of air, the two collapsed on the ground with Karin clutching the front of the boy's cloak, crying her silver eyes out. With a soft expression on his face, Naruto reached up and started rubbing the girl's back like he did when they were children. In a soothing voice he whispered, "It's okay, Karin. Everything will be okay now."

When the Organization checked the area several days later, they could only find the remains of several Awakened and the buried bodies of three warriors. The body of Karin Uzumaki was never found. This marked the creation of a new team. One that would rock the world to its foundations.

1. I've always seen Suigetsu as being very similar to Naruto, though I honestly see Suigetsu as even more simple than Naruto in some aspects in a way. For example, Suigetsu doesn't feel the weight of both his own problems and the world like Naruto does, and his biggest goal in life was to gather the 7 swords. Kind of lackluster to becoming Hokage or saving the world, huh? And when asked about what he wants to do, Suigetsu's response always involve cutting things. So the way I see it, Suigetsu would have a slightly easier time with his fight because he's too simple to let psychological attacks affect him like they did Naruto.

2. The last few chapters had so many serious moments, that this one is needed to defuse it a little bit. Hope you all don't mind.

**AN: **So here we are again! Next chapter brings us back to the ending of chapter 1. Sorry this took so long, life's been hectic. I plan on posting one or two more challenges next and then getting to work on Jealous Fox. With luck I'll get most of it done before my final semester starts up in January but who knows? If the characters in this story seem a little OC (i.e. Naruto), please remember that they were raised in different circumstances than their canon counterparts. Don't worry, they'll still act largely like the ones we all know and love, they'll just be slightly different. Thanks to all who enjoy my works and I hope to see you all soon! Till next time, **Read **and **Review**!

**P.S. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **I wish I owned an original series, but I don't think I could handle the pressure.

**Chapter 5**

The Warriors could only watch in awe as the two Awakened beings clashed. The fox and the lion were moving at speeds that made them all but invisible to the human eye, and blurs to most Warriors. Only Claymores experienced at fighting at high speeds such as Mira, Clare, and Flora, but even then their senses were stretched to the very limit to keep up with the two animal themed warriors. While the two combatants seemed fairly evenly matched, it quickly became apparent that the fox Awakened held a slight advantage over the Silver Lion as multiple cuts started to appear on his fur covered form. The claws on both beasts were lengthened to near impossible lengths and were classing with all the intensity of a sword duel, complete with sparks.

However, while both Awakened had unheard of speeds and formidable claws and teeth, the fox based Awakened had an advantage over the lion, or rather eight advantages that flowed from his tailbone. During their clash, each of the tails the fox had would act as deadly whips, carving deep furrows into the ground and the surrounding landscape as they lashed around. Rigaldo used every ounce of experience and abilities he had in order to keep up with the deadly dance, all the while keeping track of razor sharp claws and a snapping muzzle. For the moment, the two were settling for a deadly dance, but it would not last forever as the moment one side faltered, the true Battle of the North would begin.

The question that was going through most of the Warriors' minds was why was an Awakened Being helping them? It could have been that this particular Awakened was working for one of the other Abyssal Ones such as Riful or Luciela, but if that was the case then surely he'd wait for the two forces to weaken each other out before stepping in. This made his agenda seem even more mysterious, as was this 'Naruto's' companions.

All thoughts of potential motive were lost however, as the current Number 9 suddenly gave a wet cough from where Rigaldo had run her through. "Jean!" Clare cried out as she rushed over to her friend's side. "Don't worry Jean, just focus on healing while we take care of the rest," Clare said while trying to be comforting, despite the fact that the wound in the woman's stomach was bleeding at levels that were dangerous even to a Silver-Eyed Witch.

Jean coughed again and gave a weak smile at the Warrior who had saved her with bloodstained lips. "I'm sorry Clare, it looks like I won't be able to repay my debt to you after all," she said in a faint voice.

"No, don't think like that," the normally stoic Clare ordered while looking close to shedding tears as she tried to stem the blood flow from the wound. "Come on Jean, focus your yokai into healing!"

"No Clare, this is a mortal wound. I'm an offensive type Warrior, and this wound is far beyond my abilities to recover from," Jean said while trying to keep up a brave face.

"Don't say that! I'm not going to lose you too!" Clare cried as tears started to leak from her silver eyes, memories of a blonde angel and a caring young boy flashed through her mind.

So caught up in her own grief that Clare didn't even sense it when the masked individual who had suppressed her yokai a few minutes earlier knelt beside her. She started as she noticed the stranger look over her friend's wound and demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"

The figure looked up and seemed to stare into Clare's soul from behind their mask. Finally the person spoke in a clearly female voice, "I can save your friend, but you're both going to need to trust me."

Clare momentarily looked surprised before her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How can I trust you? You showed up with that one Awakened Being and were able to suppress me yokai, so how do I know this isn't a trap?" Clare asked while her hand subtly went for the handle of her claymore just in case.

The masked woman seemed to nod thoughtfully before slowly reaching up and taking off her mask. Clare was shocked to see silver eyes peering out from behind glasses as the woman said, "I can understand your confusion, but please believe me when I say we mean you no harm sister."

Now Clare was beyond confused. What was a Warrior doing with an Awakened being? Also, how could she help Jean? While it was possible for a Warrior to help speed up the healing process of another by linking yokais, the damage Jean suffered should have been beyond even the most skilled Warrior's ability. Not only that, but judging from the red and silver hair that peeked out from under the hood, this woman was a 'failure' of the Organization, someone who wasn't able to fully synthesize with the yoma flesh implanted in them and where often known as the weakest of the weak.

Jean got their attention by taking a shuddering breath and asking, "Can you truly heal me?"

"Yes," their fellow Claymore said with zero hesitation.

"Then do it," Jean said as she gained the same determined look that she had when she helped Clare and Galatea fight Riful.

The rouge Warrior nodded and pulled back the sleeve of her cloak, showing a few scars of what looked like bite marks on her arm. Holding the appendage over to Jean's face, the girl said in complete seriousness, "Now, I want you to bite me."

Jean, while looking skeptical, realized she had nothing to lose and decided to follow the odd instruction. She clamped her jaws onto the offered limb and she suddenly felt an odd sensation. It felt like the girl's own yokai was flowing from the bite wound into Jean, mixing with her own aura, and then traveling down to where her wound was. Hearing Clare gasp, Jean snuck a glance and almost gasped as well in shock. Her wound, which punched clear through her stomach, was rapidly stitching shut. The torn flesh soon came together with hardly a scar to show for it. Once her wound was completely healed, Jean let go of the other girl's arm and stared down at her stomach in awe while the mysterious Warrior rolled down her sleeve with a smug look on her face.

"You should be fine now, but you should take it easy for a couple days in order to regather your strength and to replenish the blood you lost," she told the Number 9 evenly as she stood back up.

"That red hair, those glasses, and that healing ability. There's no mistaking it; you were the former 46, Karin the Red (1), were you not?" Mira asked as she suddenly appeared by the three gathered Warriors, secretly making them jump slightly in surprise as they hadn't heard the Phantom's approach.

The redhead's eyes showed surprise for a moment before a grin spread over her face. "Ah, 'Phantom' Mira I presume? I'd heard you were in the habit of digging into the past of the Organization. How else would you know about a low-ranked Warrior like me? In answer to your question, yes I am Karin, but I prefer to go by my real name as Karin Uzumaki, not the name the Organization labeled me with."

If she had any confusion about the odd final statement, Mira didn't show it. Instead she nodded and said, "I'm thankful to you for healing one of our own, but I do have to ask about your companions, especially since at least one of them is an Awakened Being. Plus there is the fact that it has been years since you supposedly died on a mission with a small group of other Warriors. While I'd like a full explanation, since we are surrounded by enemies I'll settle for two simple questions: who are your companions Karin, and are you all on our side?"

Karin smirked and straightened up, throwing off her cloak to show that she still wore the armor she had when she was still with the Organization and her claymore was strapped to her back. There was one noticeable alteration to her attire, however; the symbol that identified her as a Warrior on both her breastplate and sword guard were now scratched out, indicating her cutting ties with the Organization. Karin spoke, "Fair enough I suppose. For your first question, the one fighting Rigaldo is my cousin Naruto Uzumaki. The large quiet one's name is Juugo Kurosaki, while the smaller one with the sword fetish and stupid face is Suigetsu Hozuki ("HEY!" shouted the offended Suigetsu from across the battlefield). As for whose side we're on…I suppose you can say we're on our own side, but for this fight we'll side with you."

Taking in the information in stride, Mira nodded. "Very well, we will accept your help for now. Be warned though; should we all survive this fight I expect you to answer the questions I ask you truthfully, otherwise I will be forced to cut you down," Mira said, her silver eyes flashing coldly.

Karin, instead of looking angry or worried merely waved her hand in a placating manner. "I'd expect no less sister. Now if you'll excuse me," with this she unsheathed her sword and turned her attention to her two nonfighting companions yelling, "ARE YOU TWO JUST GOING TO STAND THERE LIKE A COUPLE OF IDIOTS ALL DAY OR ARE YOU ACTUALLY GOING TO START FIGHTING?!" With that, she jumped at the surrounding Awakened Beings, who up until this point had remained idle while watching the second in command being matched blow for blow by an unknown foxlike Awakened, and started to slash her way through the monsters.

"Tch, don't tell me what to do you nagging brat," Suigetsu muttered while throwing off his cloak and mask to reveal a young man of about sixteen with shoulder length white hair, violet eyes, and sharp teeth that gave him a shark like appearance. He wore a purple tunic with plane grey pants, and he carried his massive cleaver like blade as if it weighed no more than a feather. With a bloodthirsty grin, Suigetsu gave a battle cry and also leapt into the fray.

"You'd think after all these years those two would at least attempt to act more mature," Juugo deadpanned before also shedding his cloak and mask. Juugo had spikey orange hair, matching eyes, and a strong face that remained impassive but had an underlying kindness to it. His attire was a loose fitting tan tunic while his pants were cut just below his knees despite the cold weather. Unlike his other two companions he seemed unarmed, but that didn't stop him from jumping right into the fray as well.

The gathered Claymores looked uncertain for a few moments, but soon enough the remaining Warriors sprang into action as well, leaving the recovering Jean and Flora behind in an area away from the major battles but also gave them a good position to defend themselves from. Mira, while fighting alongside her sisters, made sure to pay close attention to how the three new arrivals fought and hopefully learn more about them. The white haired man was now engaged in a fight with an insect like Awakened, using his longsword to parry the strikes from the monster's stinger. Meanwhile, the orange haired one seemed to be grappling with a humanoid Awakened with his bare hands. Finally, the redhead was working side by side with a small group of Claymores that included Deneve and Clare.

The group started to push their way through the horde, but then they felt a surge of yokai beyond that of the surrounding Warriors. "Oh no," Karin groaned as she face palmed while holding off another Awakened Being.

"Aw jeeze, Juugo's losing it again," Suigetsu groaned as well as he dodged a strike from his foe's stinger that nearly took his head off.

"**AAAAHHHHH HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!" **an unearthly laugh echoed through the area as the Awakened Being Juugo had been fighting stumbled back in shock, his arms crushed into twin pulps from the elbow down. It was then revealed that the foul yokai that was billowing through the area was coming from said orange haired boy, and his new appearance startled those nearby. It was as if the man had partially Awakened, as half his body remained human while the other half was made of dark flesh. His once kind eyes now reflected madness as one now glowed an insane yellow while the whites were a dark black. His hands now seemed to be covered in hard gauntlets made of his own flesh with spikes running up and down its length as blood from the other Awakened Being streamed from his clenched fists. The most disturbing change though was his face, as it went from being calm and gentle to vicious and psychotic. The transformed Juugo gave another cackle of laughter before jumping on his downed opponent and started mercilessly smashing his fist into the Voracious Eater's head, even after it was turned into a fine paste.

Several of the Warriors looked torn between attacking their transformed ally or running away in fear when Suigetsu called out, "Don't worry about him! He just gets like this when he really starts getting into a fight. Just try and avoid him for now and either he'll calm down on his own or we'll do it our-URK!"

The rest of his words were cut off as his opponent used the momentary distraction to drive its stinger into Suigetsu's chest, running the shark toothed boy through. **"Ha! You let your guard down! Now I get to feast on your guts," **the insect like former Warrior gloated before the body she was holding turned into water, falling to the ground harmlessly. **"Huh?!"** she questioned dumbly, never noticing the water that was flowing behind her was starting to take a familiar shape.

The now reformed Suigetsu gave a fanged grin before pointing a finger at the monster's unprotected back and saying, "Who let their guard down?" The man's arm seemed to ripple a bit before a drop of water about the size of a grape shot out his finger at incredible velocity and pierced the insect's head, effectively destroying the brain. Before the body collapsed on the ground, Suigetsu quickly grabbed the sword he dropped when he became water and slashed the Awakened in two, making sure it stayed down.

Those who saw this were trying to comprehend that there were now THREE Awakened Beings plus a rouge Claymore fighting on the Warriors side when there was the sound above them of flesh getting pierced by blades and the dripping of blood. Realizing that was the area that Naruto and Rigaldo were fighting, all combatants momentarily halted their battles to see who the victor was. Standing on the rooftops they could all see who stood over their opponent's body, and it was…

1. I figured this would be as good of a name as any for Karin, as it refers to both her hair, her healing abilities, and her skills as a Warrior.

**AN: **Aaaaand…Cliffhanger! Sorry about that, but I just wanted to get a chapter seeing how the Claymores would react to our group of hero's arrival as well as get their powers out in the open. Next chapter I plan on having the focus be on what happened during Naruto and Rigaldo's fight and then hopefully finish the Battle of the North. I'll try not to make a habit of writing cliffhangers like this. My material for this story may seem a little stale, as I'm rereading some of Claymore as I write to make sure I'm not forgetting any details on what happened. Plus, after three chapters of flashbacks, I figured you'd all want something easier to read to help get back to the main story. Up next I have a bit of a surprise for all my readers which I hope you'll enjoy. I want to thank everyone who likes my main stories even though I don't update as often as I should. It gets a little hard to write at times, so your support means everything and I'll try not to disappoint. Anyway, please **Read, Review, **and **Enjoy!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything I write about.

**Chapter 6**

**Naruto vs Rigaldo**

There was a clash of sparks as the two animal-based Awakened Beings clashed once more. All ten of their claws were struggling against each other, trying to find a weakness that they could exploit. A lion's face glared into a grinning fox's face as the rooftop the two stood on started to crack under the pressure of their battle.

Rigaldo growled in begrudging respect, **"You're good, for a nameless nobody, but surely you don't think you can win against me?"**

Naruto smirked, **"First of all, don't call me Shirley. Secondly, what makes you think I'm a nameless nobody? And finally, I can't win? Are you in the same fight as me or something, because as far as I can tell this is me about to kick your ass!"**

With a snort, Rigaldo broke off the exchange and the two hopped to opposite ends of the roof they were on for a momentary respite. He then explained, **"It's simple, there are only three Awakened that are of former first rank. There are more Awakened of the former higher ranks, but I know of each and every one of them and you are not amongst them. Therefore, you must either be of the lower warrior ranks or even a rookie who went over their head before even becoming a full blown warrior of the Organization. Either way, boy, you're out of your league. I was the second strongest of the First Generation of Warriors, and I've only become stronger since then. Therefore, you have no hope of even coming close to matching me when I go all out. I'll admit, finding out you're an Awakened Being as well threw me off for a while, but now I'm prepared and you're soon to be dead."**

This time it was Naruto's turn to snort. **"I think you've made a serious miscalculation pussy cat. Though if you wanna keep telling yourself that when you lose to make yourself feel better, then I won't stop you."**

Rigaldo, instead of rising to the bait, simply narrowed his eyes and said, **"Hmph, such naivety. It's time you learn your place, boy."**

With that, Rigaldo disappeared in a burst of speed and appeared behind Naruto with his claws set to rip the younger Awakened in half. **"ITS OVER!"** he roared as his claws slashed down.

However, instead of the familiar feeling of flesh tearing under his claws, it instead felt like the Silver Lion was cutting air as the Naruto he attacked faded like a mirage. **"What…?"** Isley's lieutenant muttered in shock before he felt a stabbing pain in his side. Looking down, he noticed an orange, blood soaked claw was sticking out of his side. Glancing up, Rigaldo noticed the claw was extended to where the actual Naruto stood several meters away.

With a sickening wet noise, the claw pulled itself out of the lion's side leaving a nice sized gash that bled freely. Placing a hand over the wound to dampen the bleeding, Rigaldo grit out, **"What was that? I know I had you with that last blow!"**

The fox Awakened gave a rueful smirk as he licked the blood off his claw. **"Well you were moving so slow I thought I'd just get in an attack out of boredom. As to what you cut, that would be my after image old man."**

Rigaldo was shocked. Even Pricilla, who was by far the strongest Awakened he had ever encountered, couldn't move so fast as to create an after image of themselves. Let alone one that looked realistic enough to fool even his eyes. This shows that while the other Awakened was strong, his main strength lied in his speed, one that could possibly match the Abyssal Ones! The Silver Lion now understood that if he underestimated the rival Awakened, it would be he who would fall this day. Perhaps a new tactic was in order…

"**It seems I've underestimated you a bit,"** he began slowly, choosing his words carefully as to not raise Naruto's suspicions. **"Tell me, why are you fighting to protect these Warriors? With your power, you would easily be welcomed among Isley's ranks instead of shielding these weaklings who will as soon stab you in the back the moment you let your guard down."**

Naruto raised a brow at the inquiry, taken aback slightly by the lion's apparent modesty. **"Why am I protecting them? To be honest, I don't want them to be screwed over by the Organization like my friends and I were. It's quite clear that this whole invasion is a suicide run that those girls are being forced to do, while they've never been given a choice in the matter. Sure, they might try and kill me later, but that's later and as for now they're comrades. Besides," **at this Naruto's slit pupils seemed to narrow further in anger, **"I'd rather side with those who protect humanity than fight with those who have no regard for it!"**

Now it was Rigaldo's turn to be surprised. **"What do you care for humanity? They're nothing more than food to us that have transcended our weak mortal bodies. After all, it is the strong who survive and the weak become food for them."**

Naruto shook his head in disgust. **"I honestly don't know how you and the other Awakened can think like that, especially since you were all once human yourselves. Do you honestly care nothing about those you once swore to protect?" **at this he jabbed a thumb at himself and spoke with pride, **"As for me? I'll gladly lay down my life to protect those in need. Not once have I ever considered humans as food and I never will, you cannibalistic freak!"**

At this, Rigaldo new his attempts at getting Naruto to drop his guard had failed and that there was only one way this fight was going to go down.** "I see. Well if you care about the weak so much then you can die like them!"** with that, he took off while pushing his yokai to the max, increasing his speed and strength to hopefully match that of his opponent.

Rigaldo appeared right above Naruto this time in the hopes of catching the fox off guard. However, he soon found his arms and legs being restrained tightly by Naruto's tails wrapping around the limbs, halting their movement. Looking up with a bemused expression, Naruto said, **"Did yah think these ears of mine are for show or something? Even though my yokai sensing abilities aren't the best, I've got other senses to rely on."**

With that, Naruto's tails tightened around the Silver Lion's limbs and Rigaldo couldn't help but wince as they started to draw blood. Noticing that he tails felt a lot sharper then they appeared, Rigaldo narrowed his eyes and saw that each strand of fur on the tail was now straight and pointed like needles, each one painfully biting into his flesh. It would appear the foxlike Awakened had control over the shape and hardness of his fur, making it similar to that of a porcupine. Naruto gave a savage grin. **"You might not want to struggle too much…you might hurt yourself."** He then readied his other tails in a striking position and mockingly asked, **"Now, ready to die?"**

Rigaldo for his part gave the younger Awakened an even glance before saying, **"Are you?"**

With that, the Lion gave a show of force as he forced his left hand to move despite the spikey tail cutting into his wrist. This action actually surprised Naruto for a couple seconds and this was all the time Rigaldo needed to move his hand into position before extending his claws. The sharp projectiles shot towards the Fox and due to him being tied to Rigaldo, he was unable to dodge in time as several of the claws pierced his side, a leg, and the right side of his chest close to the heart. The tails holding Rigaldo fell slack and Isley's lieutenant shook them off before backtracking to gain a strategical distance. Rigaldo didn't look to good with his left wrist a bloody mangled mess, several slashes and cuts, as well as some smaller injuries from the earlier clashes, but his face showed no reaction as he ignored the pain. Naruto meanwhile got onto one knee as the wounds inflicted by the enemy Awakened took their toll.

That being said, however, the wounds were not fatal and that proved to be a mistake on Rigaldo's part a moment later as Naruto stood with his wounds healing at a rapid pace with some steam wafting from them. Rigaldo saw this and merely quirked his brow before saying, **"Hn, so you are a Defensive Type, eh? From our earlier clashes I had nearly mistaken you for an offensive type like myself, though I suppose it does make sense seeing as your main strength seems to rely on speed rather than physical prowess."**

Naruto merely gave a grunt as the worst of his wounds sealed up, though he did looked slightly more winded than before. Giving a chuckle he said, **"Heh, not bad for an old man. Kind of reckless on your part though, isn't it? I mean, your one hand is down for the count and I doubt the rest of your wounds are much better. That kind of reckless shit is what my friends usually yell at me for, ya'know?"**

Rigaldo scoffed at this and sneered, **"Unlike some beings, I'm more than capable of fighting around any injury I receive. I will only need one hand to defeat an upstart Awakened like yourself and still have enough to kill the Organizations puppets. You can't stop me."**

With a non-concerned shrug, Naruto crouched down. Getting his claws and tails ready, Naruto shot out, **"Whatever you say old man! Now let's finish this, cause there are other battles going on and I wanna get a move on. What d'yah say? One last clash to determine the winner?" **

With a snort, Rigaldo moved into his own ready stance. **"Very well. If you are in such a hurry to die then I will oblige you."**

A tense silence seemed to fall over the two despite the sounds of battle from the streets below. The two locked eyes with each other as neither moved, each waiting for some unspoken signal for the final blow in their match to be thrown. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a claymore sword. Suddenly, a chilled gust of wind blew across the rooftops and that sprung the two fighters into action. A fox shaped human charged as the lion shaped monster spread his claws out hoping to pierce him like a charging bull. In the blink of the eye, it was over. The sounds of blades piercing flesh and blood dripping seemed to drown out all noise over the area.

Unaware that all Claymores and Awakened beings had their attention on them, the two animalistic fighters stood mere inches apart from each other. Slowly, Rigaldo looked down and saw that Naruto's clawed hands were buried up to the elbow in his guts while two of his tails pierced the Silver Lion's own hands, forcing them out of the way from when the former blonde charged and left his front completely unprotected. Looking back up into the curiously blank face of his opponent and gave a barely noticeable smile as blood started to leak from his mouth.

"**It seems…that this fight…goes to you,"** Rigaldo muttered weakly as more and more of his blood began to splatter the rooftops. Taking a breath, the former Number 2 closed his eyes and whispered a barely audible sentence, **"Do it."**

In the span of a microsecond, Naruto yanked his hands out of the Awakened and launched a flurry of slashes that rendered Rigaldo into bloody chunks that rained down onto the rooftop below them. Giving a flick of his wrist as to rid them of the excess blood on them, Naruto retracted his claws as he gave a slight bow of his head to his deceased foe in respect. **"Sayonara Silver Lion, you fought well,"** he said in a voice barely above a whisper.

He then turned to the edge of the nearly completely destroyed roof the battle took place on to observe the war down below. Naruto noticed that both Juugo and Suigetsu had both revealed their powers (Juugo was savagely beating an Awakened Being to death with its own fists while laughing insanely while Suigetsu was using his water body to easily move between his foes, slicing at any he could reach) while Karin had tag teamed with several other Warriors. Several of the Claymores and Awakened Beings had paused in their fighting to see the end of his fight, but Naruto knew it was a temporary pause at best. After all, Awakened Beings were fairly independent normally and the death of the second in command of their army was a minor setback to the assembled monsters. Naruto knew what this meant.

Giving a savage smirk, Naruto hopped off the roof onto the ground below, causing cracks to form in the stone road where he landed. Looking up at the surrounding Awakened Beings, Naruto quipped, **"Looks like this party's getting crazy!" **He then proceeded to charge into the fray, hacking, slashing, and impaling Awakened Beings along the way.

The war had just reach its turning point.

**AN: **Here we go! This is the fight that went down during the events of last chapter between Naruto and Rigaldo. Now I know it has been awhile, and that I suggested that I may be able to finish up the War of the North this chapter, but unfortunately life more often than not doesn't go as planned. It took me awhile to get back into the zone for writing this, and even then my enthusiasm wasn't where it normally is when it comes to writing this. Granted, when I began this story I just had a starting plot figured out as well as an origin and abilities for Naruto and co., and let me tell you that figuring out the rest between points A and C is no cakewalk. Hopefully by the next chapter, after I've cleared my head a bit, I'll be able to wrap this arc up nicely and then move on to after the time skip, but no promises.

Now for this chapter, I know I made Rigaldo seem fairly cocky and conceited, but to be fair he did come across like that in the manga. He ignored the other warriors in favor of targeting the leaders, higher ranked warriors, and only really payed any attention to the other fighters when Clare started to Awaken. Not only that, but in their backstory it was said that while Rigaldo followed Isely, he did it out of the bare minimum of respect for him and would have gladly killed him himself if given the opportunity. This tells me that Rigaldo is the kind of person who is overly confident in their own abilities and sees others as annoyances at best. This costs him in both canon and this story. Hopefully though I made it realistic enough for you all to enjoy.

After this, I'm going to focus a bit on my Ben 10 story and then get back to writing the others with some new challenges posted in between. Hope you all enjoy and until next time, please READ and REVIEW!


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